Adolescent Hearing Loss: Rising or Not, It Remains a Concern

In this issue of Pediatrics, Barrett and White¹ report on the prevalence of adolescent hearing loss using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Specifically, they extend the findings of Shargorodsky et al’s² 2010 publication, which compared the prevalence of adolescent hearing loss in the third NHANES (1988–1994) to NHANES 2005–2006. Shargorodsky et al² reported a significant rise in the prevalence of adolescent hearing loss from 14.9% to 19.5% using these 2 time points, but when the 2008 and 2010 data are included, the prevalence does not appear to have significantly changed since 1994.¹ Barrett and White¹ conclude that Shargorodsky’s often cited manuscript on the rising prevalence of adolescent hearing loss is not substantiated when subsequent NHANES data cycles are included.

In considering the new findings, it is valuable to understand the limitations of the NHANES cross-sectional study design. Cross-sectional data...